


Episode 1: Bust

by fsdfsdfsd



Series: Challenge: Correct the AU as we go along [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: AU, Gen, Hanoi AU, Hanoi Yusaku, Just from Episode 1, Not Beta Read, Present Tense, Self-created challenge, Slight out of character, Written as though we have less info on the story than we do now, deliberate out of character as part of a writing exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 10:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11228847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fsdfsdfsd/pseuds/fsdfsdfsd
Summary: Despite his youth, Playmaker has been one of Hanoi's best agents for years. Yusaku doesn't take his first failure well.





	Episode 1: Bust

**Author's Note:**

> Although the flag says 1 and this is a re-telling for episode 1, I just want to say here and now that not every drabble I post will be on whatever episode it's labeled as. Rather, this chapter was written as though the only information I had on VRAINS was the information we had available right after episode 1 came out.
> 
> See End Notes if you want details on what I did to write it as though we'd only seen one episode.

A perfect track record for years, and then the Ignis.

If Playmaker hadn’t been there to see it, he would’ve assumed the Ignis was hiding somewhere, camouflaged itself in the VRAINS. But this…

One minute it was there, the next it was gone. An escape route, opened up in the middle of nowhere, bypassing both SOL Tech’s shields and Hanoi’s- including the ones Yusaku designed himself.

He runs diagnostics- both the ones he designed and the ones in his soul. Nothing. No sight of it. But there was something there, an address that’s being scrambled over and over as he watches it.

Seconds from his prey, Playmaker can barely accept this. He does, of course- denial leads to mistakes, and he’s not that sloppy. He knows better than that.

He can’t say the same for the soldier riding Cracking Dragon behind him, who almost crashes when he stops and now looks utterly lost. “Where is it?” They- she, if memory serves- demands. “It’s here, right?”

Under the mask on his avatar, Playmaker growls. “Not here.” Obviously.

“But- it has to be.” The soldier, Haruda Yumiko in real life, insists. “It couldn't have escaped from the inside, and we know SOL Tech wouldn’t make an exit in their own program. It couldn’t be with them, they’d make too much noise about it.”

That’s actually a fair point. He’ll have to correct his impression of Haruda, apparently she was more than just a decent duelist. If the Ignis couldn’t have gotten itself out, it definitely wasn’t in the VRAINS anymore, and neither Hanoi nor SOL Technologies had it…

Though his avatar’s mask is no more than ones and zeroes, to Yusaku it’s as though something is trapping his breath in it, stifling him with heat. “Log out.” He orders Ha- the soldier. “We’re leaving.”

“But- the Ignis-”

“It’s not here.” A quick check that the area was clear before Playmaker withdraws his monsters. “There has to be a third party involved- whoever it is will have thought this through. They won’t get caught, but staying here only increases the chances that someone will track our signals.”

The soldier clearly wants to argue, but she nods and obeys all the same. Alone in the VRAINS, Playmaker takes a few minutes to calm himself. Checks the area again, make sure Haruda’s retreat is clear. Wonders who could have done this- and why.

“Who else wants it…” Nobody, as far as he knew.

Could it have been SOL? They were doing government-contracted jobs five years ago, and the military has been known to recruit skilled hackers. Perhaps one of the chairmen convinced an old friend to lend them a hand, just one person.

It didn’t matter. Whoever did this was good enough that he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it staying here. With one last determined growl, Playmaker logged off.

Yusaku groaned as the devices around him whirled and slowed, slowly getting up from his chair. “All these years…”

Whoever stole the Ignis was going to pay. As a duelist and as a hacker, Yusaku wouldn’t let this battle go until he came out on top.

**Author's Note:**

> Of course since my AU challenge is specific to information gained in episode 2, so to do the challenge for episode 1 I had to pretend that we had screenshots of that one scene that my AU is based on before the series started. It wound up being irrelevant- apart from Blue Angel not being present there's nothing here that references anyone but Yusaku.
> 
> So when writing this I first thought about what we know about Yusaku when the first episode was over. He's a good duelist, he's a good hacker, he's observant, he's Playmaker, he works with Shoichi, he hates Hanoi, he wasn't upset when Naoiki got upset at him. He noticed Naoki's good and bad traits.
> 
> So I thought about it, and then thought up a handful things we didn't know about Yusaku after the first episode. He's willing to ignore a duel challenge (rare in yugioh protagonists). He's a bit socially inexperienced, not just cold.
> 
> So I wrote this story deliberately OOC in a few ways. Yusaku's pride as a duelist is important to him. He's comfortable working with a stranger. He remembers the name of someone he's only met a handful of times.
> 
> It's just a few things, and I only plan to do this for the first five episodes, but writing this drabble deliberately OOC in this specific way was fun for me.


End file.
